As most people know the population in the Fraser Health region, in particular Surrey, is steadily growing. This has provided some wonderful opportunities for residents, but also presents a number of significant challenges for health care delivery in the region. This is not a new problem, indeed the rapid growth of the population and the increasing cancer care needs led to the opening of the Abbotsford Centre eight years ago, along with the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital.

Up until that point, people in Abbotsford and the surrounding area needed to travel to Surrey to receive their care at the Fraser Valley Centre, in Surrey. It was clear then that another cancer centre was needed and due to the population growth it was planned for Abbotsford to allow many patients to receive care in their own community.

When the Abbotsford Centre opened it did provide some relief to Surrey; however, due to continued population growth in the region, and exciting advances in cancer care, we find ourselves once again at a similar point to where we were almost a decade ago— Surrey’s Fraser Valley Centre requires more space and resources to meet the needs of our patients.

Cancer treatment is a constantly evolving field and we are excited to bring new and promising therapies to our patients. For many types of cancer we now have many more treatments than we had even a few years ago. As a result, there is an urgent need to expand our chemotherapy, pharmacy, and ambulatory care units to meet the needs of our patients by being able to able to offer treatment in a timely fashion and continue delivery the great care we’re known for.

A tremendous amount of work has already gone into this project, and we are thrilled that the expansion of our Centre is about to begin. The expansion and renovation project will take about 18 months and will allow us to increase our capacity—offering more chemotherapy treatments and more ambulatory care all in one centralized locations. This will provide us the space we need to treat our patients in the best way possible.

We are delighted to partner with the BC Cancer Foundation, which has committed to raising $1 million of the total $7.5 million project. It feels great to be part of a project that will touch so many lives and create an expanded, state-of-the-art facility for patient care in Surrey.